The present disclosure relates to forced air dryer systems for rack drying boots and gloves, and particularly, to such devices in which the rack is either wall mounted or free standing and readily moveable for simultaneous drying of several pairs of boots and/or gloves from a common blower system. Such forced air type dryers are often employed for drying boots utilized in the construction industries and/or boots and gloves for uniformed emergency responders such as for hazardous waste disposal and fire fighters. Upon removal, the user may hang the boots and/or gloves on the rack and the forced air system circulates air to the interior of the gloves and/or boots and, over a period of a few hours, the interior is completely dried. If accelerated drying is required, a heater may be employed with the blower to circulate heated air interiorly of the gloves and/or boots.
In the food service industry including food processing, where workers are required to wear sterilized boots and gloves, it is required that the boots and gloves be sprayed with liquid sterilizing or disinfecting agent, such as bleach, prior to drying. The presence of the liquid sterilizer must be controlled such that pooling or residual amounts of liquid sterilizer are not retained on any horizontal surface such that bacteria could be collected over a time interval prior to total evaporation or drying of the sterilization liquid. In this regard, it has been found beneficial to provide for rack mounting of the boots/gloves to optimize the sterilization process and prevent contamination.
Accordingly, it has been desired to provide a way or means of air drying boots and/or gloves requiring sterilization with forced air circulation interiorly thereof in a manner and with equipment that prevents liquid pooling and completely drains of any sterilizer. It has been particularly desired to provide a system in a wall rack version and a free standing portable rack version capable of drying a multiple number of pairs of boots and/or gloves which require sterilization without trapping any of the sterilizing liquid exteriorly on or interiorly of the air drying system.